The present invention relates to a closure for a seat trim cover and in particular to a closure especially suited for closing a seat trim cover around a halo opening in a seat back.
In trimming automotive seat assemblies with soft trim, a neat appearance and ease of manufacture are extremely important. Today's motor vehicle purchasers demand interior trim having clean and neat lines with raw material edges hidden from view. In order to reduce seat manufacturing cost, it is desirable to employ processes which employ low cycle times and which can be carried out with a high degree of accuracy.
The trimming of motor vehicle seat assemblies becomes particularly difficult when the seat is of the so-called "halo" type which has a large hole through the upper portion of the seat back. The front and rear sections of the trim cover must be connected around the peripheral edge of the seat back and further they must be joined within the hole through the seat back. One approach toward connecting the cover sections in the hole area is to sew them together in that region. This approach however, requires the front or rear trim cover to be fed through the hole and then spread out over the respective seat back portion before the front and rear trim covers are connected together around the periphery of the seat back. This operation is highly labor intensive and accordingly imposes cost penalties.
Another approach toward connecting the trim covers in the hole area is the use of a ridged ring member that is installed within the seat back hole. The ring member includes a flange portion which engages the trim cover on one side of the seat back and has another flange with a reversely bent edge channel. A brake-over strip affixed to the other trim cover fits within the channel formed by the bent flange and is retained therein to complete the trimming of a seat back hole. However, in some instances, the use of a-rigid ring member in a halo opening is undesirable and a softer appearance, such as that formed with a trim-to-trim attachment, is preferred.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a closure for joining the front and rear trim covers together in the hole of a halo seat back after the trim cover has been applied to the seat back. This eliminates the labor intensive and costly process of sewing the front and rear trim covers together around the periphery of the seat back after the cover has been installed on the seat back.
With the closure of the present invention, the front and rear trim covers are sewn together about their peripheries, forming an envelope having an open end for insertion of the seat back into the envelope. The front and rear trim covers have openings for alignment with the hole in the seat back. Fastening clips are attached to the front and rear trim covers around the edges of the trim cover openings. The clips couple to one another to attach the front trim cover to the rear trim cover around the hole in the seat back. The attaching clip fastened to one trim cover has a projecting barb while the clip fastened to the other trim cover has a pocket for receiving the projecting barb. The pocket includes inwardly extending flanges which engage the barb and prevent its removal from the receiving pocket. Additionally, the attaching clip forming the pocket may also include a mounting hook to attach the clip to a supporting structure within the seat back, such as a seat back frame or a support wire mounted to the frame.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.